52 Geo. 3, c. 146. church, in like manner as is herein directed with respect to parochial ministers, and shall be attested by two of the officers of such church, college, or hospital, as the copies of parochial registers are herein directed to be attested by churchwardens: provided always, that nothing in this act contained shall extend to repeal any provision contained in an act passed in the twentysixth year of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, intituled An Act for better preventing Clandestine Marriages. Not to repeal any provision of the marriage act, 26 G. 2. c. 33. 1 Wil. 4, c. 66. Inserting any false entry in any register of baptisms, &c. forging or alter try; uttering any false or forged entry; destroy ing the register; The I Will IV.c. 66, (which repeals the 14th & 15th sections of 52 Geo. III. c. 146,) s. 20, enacts, "that if any person shall knowingly and wilfully insert, or cause or permit to be inserted, in any register of baptisms, marriages, or burials, which hath been or shall be made or kept by the rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister of any parish, district-parish, or chapelry in England, any false entry of any matter relating to any baptism, marriage, or burial; or shall forge or alter in any such register any entry of any matter relating to any ing any such en baptism, marriage, or burial; or shall utter any writing as and for a copy of an entry in any such register of any matter relating to any baptism, marriage, or burial, knowing such writing to be false, forged, or altered; or if any person shall utter any entry in any such register of any matter relating to any baptism, marriage, or burial, knowing such entry to be false, forged, or altered, or shall utter any copy of such entry, knowing such entry to be false, forged, or altered, or shall wilfully destroy, deface, or injure, or cause or permit to be destroyed, defaced, or injured, any such register or any part thereof; or shall forge or alter, or shall utter, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any licence of marriage; every such offender shall be guilty of felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for life or for any term not less than seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years, nor less than two years." forging any li cense of marri age; transporta tion for life, &c. Rector, &c. not liable to any penalty for correcting, in the mode prescribed, acci dental errors in register. Inserting in any copy of a regis ter of baptisms, marriages, or burials, transmitted to the re gistrar, any false entry; or forging Sect. 21, provides and enacts, "that no rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister of any parish, district-parish, or chapelry, who shall discover any error in the form or substance of the entry in the register of any baptism, marriage, or burial respectively by him solemnized, shall be liable to any of the penalties herein mentioned, if he shall, within one calendar month after the discovery of such error, in the presence of the parent or parents of the child baptized, or of the parties married, or in the presence of two persons who shall have attended at any burial, or in the case of the death or absence of the respective parties aforesaid, then in the presence of the churchwardens or chapelwardens, correct the entry which shall have been found erroneous, according to the truth of the case, by entry in the margin of the register wherein such erroneous entry shall have been made, without any alteration or obliteration of the original entry, and shall sign such entry in the margin, and add to such signature the day of the month and year when such correction shall be made; and such correction and signature shall be attested by the parties in whose presence the same are directed to be made as aforesaid: provided also, that in the copy of the register which shall be transmitted to the registrar of the diocese, the said rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister, shall certify the corrections so made by him as aforesaid." Sect. 22, after reciting that "copies of the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, such copies being signed and verified by the written declaration of the rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister of every parish, district-parish, and chapelry in England where the ceremonies of baptism, marriage, and burial may lawfully be performed, are directed by law to be made and transmitted to the registrar of the diocese within which such or verifying any parish, district-parish, or chapelry may be situated:" enacts, "that if any copy, knowing it person shall knowingly and wilfully insert, or cause or permit to be inserted, in any copy of any register so directed to be transmitted as aforesaid, any false entry of any matter relating to any baptism, marriage, or burial, or shall forge or alter, or shall utter, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any copy of any register so directed to be transmitted as aforesaid, or shall knowingly and wilfully sign or verify any copy of any register so directed to be transmitted as aforesaid, which copy shall be false in any part thereof, knowing the same to be false, every such offender shall be guilty of to be false; trans portation for seven years, &c. felony, and, being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the 52 Geo. 5, c. 146. court, to be transported beyond the seas for the term of seven years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years nor less than one year." See the decisions and law as to forgery in general, ante, Forgery, Vol. II. Schedules to the 52 Geo. 3, c. 146. Schedule (A.) 1. Baptisms solemnized in the Parish of St. 4., in the County of B., in the year one thousand eight hundred and Marriages solemnized in the Parish of St. A., in the County of B., in the year one thousand eight hundred and [N.B.-The following form of entry is not precisely like the one prescribed by the schedule (B.) of the 52 Geo. III. c. 146, but is framed to meet the provision of and form given by the 4 Geo. IV. c. 76, s. 28, which see, ante, Marriage, Vol. III.] Burials in the Parish of A., in the County of B., in the year one thousand eight hundred and 52 Geo. 3, c. 146. Schedule (D.) do hereby certify, that I did, on the day of I, I, aged and To the Rector [or, as the case may be] of day of A. B., of was buried in [stating the place of burial], and that the ceremony of bu rial was performed according to the rites of the United Church of England and Ireland, A. B. Churchwardens [or, " Chapelwardens"] of the Parish [or, "Chapelry"] of Parliament. As to proof of acts of Parliament, see Vol. II. Evidence. As to the effect of proof of journals of, see Vol. II. Evidence. As to the construction of, and other points relative to, acts of Parliament, see post, Statutes. I. Matters previous to the Election, 13. [7 & 8 Wil. III. c. 25; 18 Geo. II. c. 18; 19 Geo. II. c. 28; 25 Geo. III. c. 84; 33 Geo. III. c. 64; 53 Geo. III. c. 89; 7 Geo. IV. c. 9 Geo. IV. c. 59.] 55; II. Election to be free, 15. [3 Edw. I. c. 5; 1 Wil. III. sess. 2, c.2; 5 Wil. III. c. 20; 12 & 13 Wil. III. c. 10; 2 Anne, c, 10; 9 Anne, c. 11; 8 Geo. II. c. 30.] III. Qualification of the Candidates, 16. [30 Chas. II. st. 2, c. 1; 7 & 8 Wil. III. c. 25; 6 Anne, c. 7; 9 Anne, IV. Qualification of the Electors, and herein of Bribery, 19. V. Polling, 26. [2 Geo. II. c. 24; 25 Geo. III. c. 84; 34 Geo. III. c. 73; 42 Geo. III. c. 62; 43 Geo. III. c. 74; 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 37; 9 Geo. IV. c. 59.] VI. Return, and Expenses of Election, 28. [7 Hen. IV. c. 15; 7 & 8 Wil. III. c. 7, c. 25; 10 Anne, c. 23; 10 Geo. III. c. 16; 11 Geo. III. c. 42; 14 Geo. III. c. 15; 25 Geo. III. c. 84; 28 Geo. III. c. 52; 32 Geo. III. c. 1; 36 Geo. III. c. 59 ; 42 Geo. III. c. 84; 47 Geo. III. c. 1; 53 Geo. III. c. 71; 9 Geo. IV. c. 22.] VII. Privilege of Parliament, 30. [12 and 13 Wil. c. 3; 11 Geo. II. c. 24; 4 Geo. III. c. 33; 10 Geo. VIII. How long the Parliament shall continue, 32. [1 Geo. I. st. 2, c. 38; 7 & 8 W. III. c. 15; 6 Anne, c. 7.] IX. When an Act of Parliament shall take Date, 32. [33 Geo. III. c. 13; 48 Geo. III. c. 106.] X. Improperly procuring an Election, 33. [49 Geo. III. c. 118.] I. Matters previous to the Election. directs the course messenger of the office. The 53 Geo. III. c. 89, for the more regular Conveyance of Writs for the 53 G. 3, c. 89, Election of Members to serve in Parliament, enacts, s. 1, that the messenger, in which election or pursuivant of the great seal, shall, after the receipt of such writs, forthwith writs shall be forcarry such of them as shall be directed to the sheriffs of London or Middlesex, warded by the to the respective officers of such sheriffs, and all such other writs to the great seal, and general post-office in London, and there deliver them to the postmaster- through the post general or his deputy, who shall give an acknowledgment in writing, expressing therein the time of delivery, and shall keep a duplicate of such acknowledgment, signed by the parties respectively to whom and by whom the same shall be so delivered; and that the postmaster or his deputy shall despatch all such writs free of postage, by the first post or mail after the receipt thereof, under covers directed to the proper officers to whom the said writs shall be respectively directed, accompanied with proper directions to the postmaster or deputy postmaster of the place, or nearest to the place, where such officers shall hold their office, requiring such postmaster or deputy forthwith to carry such writs respectively to such office, and to deliver them there to the officers to whom they shall be respectively directed, or their deputies, who are required to give to such postmaster or deputy a memorandum in writing, acknowledging the receipt of every such writ, and setting forth the day and the hour the same was delivered by such postmaster or deputy, which memorandum shall also be signed by such postmaster or deputy, who are required to transmit the same by the first or second post afterwards to the postmaster-general or his deputy, at the general post-office in London, who are required to make an entry thereof in a proper book for that purpose, and to file the memorandum along with the duplicate of the said acknowledgment, signed by the messenger, to the intent that the same may be inspected or produced upon all proper occasions, by any person interested in such elections. offices. The statute, after directing (s. 2 & 3,) that all persons to whom the writs Persons to whom for the election of members to Parliament ought to be and are usually such writs are usually directed, directed shall, within a month, send to the postmasters-general an account must give an ac of the places where they shall hold their offices, and so from time to time, as count of the often as such places shall be changed, and of the post town nearest to such places of their offices; or in case any such office shall be in London, Westminster, or Southwark, or within five miles thereof, shall send such account to the messenger of the great seal; proceeds to enact, (s. 4 & 5,) that after the death of Mileage and the then messenger of the great seal, the allowances of mileage shall cease, fished, except except an allowance of two guineas on each writ for the election of a member two guineas on a on any vacancy, and of 50%. on the calling of a new Parliament. And it vacancy, and 501. further enacts, that whereas the messenger of the great seal and his deputy ment. have, from time to time, received certain other fees for the conveyance and other fees abo on a new Parlia ELECTION, upon the delivery of these writs, such fees shall cease from the passing of MATTERS PRE- the act; and that neither the messenger nor his deputy, nor any other person, shall receive or take any fee, reward, or gratuity whatsoever, for the conveyance or delivery of any such writ. VIOUS TO. Persons acting in violation of the act guilty of a misdemeanor. Time of proceeding to the election in counties. Notice of time and place of elections to be given within cer. tain hours. Clerks for taking the poll. Inspectors. Booths to be erected. And sect. 5. further proceeds to give to the then messenger an annual allowance for his life of 520/. in compensation for these fees. Sect. 6. Enacts, that every person concerned in the transmitting or delivery of any such writ as aforesaid, who shall wilfully neglect or delay to deliver or transmit any such writ, or accept any fee, or do any other matter or thing in violation of this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may, upon conviction upon any indictment or information in his majesty's Court of King's Bench, be fined and imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, for such misdemeanor. Sect. 7. Offences committed in Scotland may be punished by a fine or imprisonment, as the judge before whom the offender shall be tried and convicted may direct. By the 7 & 8 Wil. III. c. 25, s. 1, when any new Parliament shall be summoned, there shall be forty days between the teste and return of the writ; and, as well upon the calling of any new Parliament as upon a vacancy in Parliament time, the writ shall be delivered to the proper officer to whom the execution thereof doth belong, and to no other person. And every such officer, upon receipt of the writ, shall indorse thereon the day that he received it, and shall forthwith make out a precept, and within three days after the receipt of the writ, shall deliver such precept to the proper officer of the place where any member is wanting, and to no other person; and such officer, upon the back of such precept, shall indorse the day of his receipt thereof, in the presence of the party from whom he received the same, and shall forthwith cause public notice to be given of the time and place of election, and shall proceed to election thereupon within eight days next after his receipt of such precept, and give four days' notice at least of the day appointed for the election. By the 33 Geo. III. c. 64, s. 1, all notices of the time and place of any election shall be publicly given at the usual place or places, within the hours of eight in the forenoon and four in the afternoon from 25th October to 25th March, and of eight in the forenoon and six in the afternoon from 25th March to 25th October inclusive; and no notice shall be deemed or taken to be a good or valid notice for any purpose, or to any effect whatsoever, which shall not be made and published in the manner and within the time of the day aforesaid. And by the 25 Geo. III. c. 84, s. 4, upon an election of a knight of the shire, the sheriff shall, within two days after the receipt of the writ, cause proclamation to be made at the place where the ensuing election ought by law to be holden of a special county court to be there holden for the purpose of such election only, on any day, Sunday excepted, not later from the day of making such proclamation than the sixteenth day, nor sooner than the tenth day; and shall proceed in such election, at such special county court, in the same manner as if the said election were to be held at a county court, or an adjournment thereof, according to the laws now in being. Sect. 4. Provided, that the usual county court for all other purposes, or any adjournment thereof, may be held and proceeded in by the sheriff, in the same manner, and at the same times and places, as if the writ for the election of a knight of the shire had not been received. By the 7 & 8 Wil. III. c. 25, s. 3, in every election of any knight of the shire, the sheriff shall appoint such number of clerks as he shall think fit for taking the poll, in the presence of himself or deputy. And by the same statute the sheriffs shall admit one person for each candidate to be inspector of the clerks. If a contest be expected, and there are several candidates, the sheriff may, by 18 Geo. II. c. 18, s. 7, erect, at the expense of the candidates, such number of booths for taking the poll as the candidates or any of them shall, three days at least before the commencement of the poll, desire; not exceeding |